Riding the wave of uncertainty
Have you ever been in a place where everything is going seemingly well in your life only to realise it’s not how you want to continue living or what you want to keep doing be it professionally changing your career path or the desire to completely uproot your life by moving to country where no one knows who you are. This year has been a heavy year for the entire world not to dismiss the little bit of sunshine on the side.
Lately , I’ve been feeling like I’m running in circles while making important “life-changing” decisions. Taking two steps ahead just to mentally reach back to the same spot I started at which include confusion, lack of clarity, fear, uncertainty just to name a few. All this going back and forth made me realise I cannot really escape these emotions. No matter how far I get in life these emotions will be present along the way and the only right way to make sure you don’t get in your own way and prevent self-sabotage is to befriend these emotions. What if we changed the way we looked at these emotions ? What if these emotions aren’t here to drive us crazy but to actually help us navigate our lives? If we actually spent some time looking at these emotions objectively rather than create our own narratives around them, it would be much more easier to gain the benefit of it. If you’re afraid of something it doesn’t mean the thing in itself is scary , but it is our own self concept that is projected onto the thing. For example, let’s say you’re afraid of heights, tall buildings and peaks aren’t scary on their own but our concept or story that we tell ourselves that are highly influenced by our past experiences is what is causing this fear. What if you fall and get injured or worse even die ? Might as well avoid it. Whatever you avoid isn’t actually giving you any freedom but taking away your freedom. Read that again.
Back to uncertainty, most of us are heavy on questioning situations that are yet to take place. But the what-ifs questions are a powerful tool if used in faith and not fear. Instead of focusing on outcomes that are catastrophic, why not focus on outcomes that are the best. And if the best seems a little far fetched approach those situations with curiosity, neither good nor bad ; let’s just see what happens. This takes away the immense pressure we put on outcomes and shifts it into being a fun experience.
Every next level of our lives will involve uncertainty because we cannot comprehend what the future has in store for us while looking at it from a limited perspective and through a distorted lens. Be open to how life unfolds for you because you can only connect the dots looking backwards. Instead of drowning yourself in worries and made up what-if scenarios , surf the wave and light heartedly approach it without putting too much importance on the outcome because sometimes what we want isn’t what we truly want but what we think we should want. Read that again. Trust yourself enough to recognize the blessing in uncertainty and trust your ability to adapt to situations that seem so outside your comfort zone. The best things in life are on the other side of fear. Get outside your own head and surf the waves of uncertainty while having faith that you’ll reach exactly where you want to be or even better exactly where you need to be.There are endless possibilities we have yet to explore so why be bound to just one. As Dory said to herself in Finding Nemo- Just keep swimming.
